


Dark Heart

by zannora



Category: Eddsworld - All Media Types
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, Gen, Gore and Violence, Guilt, Regret, Torture, baseball bat, knife, secretive heart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-07
Updated: 2020-03-02
Packaged: 2021-02-27 07:01:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22152934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zannora/pseuds/zannora
Summary: Reunion: It’s been six month since Tom and Matt went missing. Edd is determined to look for his friends, even after his cola stocks finished two days ago. The building in front of him looms under the clouded sky with trees surrounding the area. This is where his questions will be answered and his friends will be. Tord’s Red Army base.You Know What You Did: The dark can both be the most comforting place to be in and the most frightening when it shows the things that you hide.*UPDATE new chapter*Bats and Slashes: A prequel to Dark Heart: Reunion and Dark Heart: You Know What You Did. This is a story retelling the 3 days Tom and Matt in captivity, featuring their kidnappers; General Zhihao Lee and Sergeant Lea Steinmetz.
Kudos: 12





	1. Reunion

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Toes (Eddsworld) | Animation](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/548635) by Rragewolf. 



> This fanfic is inspired by Toes (Eddsworld) | Animation, created by Rragewolf. There will be minor add-ons in certain places, scenes and dialogues, this fanfic will be my version or my side of the story heavily based on the animation. 
> 
> Special thanks to my friend, seokjynerso, for proofreading this fic.

Edd had started having hallucinations. He kept seeing his friends whenever he closes his eyes to blink. In one moment his friends would look happy and normal like usual, but in the next they would be in pain. Tom’s eyes would be dripping with blood, oozing down his cheeks, while his trembling hands tried to stop the bleeding, but to no avail. His efforts were for nothing. For Matt on the other hand, Edd could not see what had happened to his face. His hands were covering them, but he swore he saw something red. Blood, Edd thought quietly.

He leaned on a nearby tree as his bearings starting to tilt, hand clutching his green hoodie where his heart was. It felt like it could burst out of his chest like a cannon. It felt so painful and frightening to think about what could have happened to his friends. They were not the best of friends, but they are his friends nonetheless. Losing them would surely be like a stab to the heart. He shook his head and steadied his breathing, steeling himself before leaving the maze-like forest and continued walking to the front entrance of the Red Army base.

Just after he took a few steps forward, a shout stopped Edd in his tracks as a dozen soldiers aimed their rifles at him. It was no surprise to Edd, he had expected this, nothing less from a base full of soldiers. Well, at least they did not shoot him on sight, it would be a waste of time to come all this way just to die at the hands of some random people. He straightened his body and raised his hands in surrender, glaring daggers at the soldiers.

“Tord!” Edd began shouting. “Stop hiding behind these idiots! I know you’re in there, you evil-faced bastard! Come out before I drag you out of there myself!”

The armed soldiers remained in their position, unflinching with their rifles, still staring at Edd’s face. Anger boiled inside his throat. He was tired of walking for many, many miles for six bloody months, he has not had any cola after wandering inside that hell forest and he was not in a mood to have some stupid water guns aimed at his face.

“You son of a bitch, come out and talk to me!”

As if on cue, the front door of the base opened and a familiar face greeted Edd. Tord, his old friend - the same old friend that destroyed his old home as a matter of fact - still the same as ever with his horned hair style, but the eyepatch was new, making him look like a pirate. He was not alone, two soldiers accompanied him. Possibly bodyguards for his sorry arse, Edd thought. But something still looked different with Tord, he looked more surprised than Edd had anticipated. He even looked kind of relieved. Edd was expecting a smug face, or something more. 

While Edd was fiddling inside his head, Tord called two more people out and signaled his men to lower their weapons before he himself walked towards Edd. His demeanor changed, switching from surprised to straight up manic, smiling happily, seemingly delighted to see his friend.

“Put your hands down Edd.” The green hoodie lad snapped out from his head, and followed what the Red Army leader commanded. “Sorry about my men, procedures.” Remembering how ‘his men’ were ready to shoot him, Edd gave the death stare at Tord. The army man grinned and continued, “Oh and welcome to the Red Army base. I’m their leader, Red Leader,” he stopped and proudly gestured to his large base that had a large ‘R’ plastered in front of it.

“Show-off. Whatever Tord, I don’t care about your clubhouse or your leader thing. What I want to know is what happened to Tom and Matt. They have been missing for several months now and I know you took them.”

Tord smiled at Edd’s accusation, “What made you think I took them?”

“I don’t know, for revenge? For destroying your precious giant robot?”

The Norwegian did not answer, instead he continued walking, drawing closer to his friend, Edd, who stood firmly in place. Edd took a good look of Tord’s face, the same deceitful face the man had when he last saw him. In return, Edd only scowled at him. 

“Oh please, Edd. I don’t have time to play childish revenge game with my old friends. I got bigger things to do.” Tord stopped and put his arm over Edd’s shoulder, “But what happened to Tom and Matt, I can help you with that.”

“What do you---” Before Edd could finish talking, Tord motioned his robot hand towards the base’s entrance. 

“See for yourself.” 

Edd quickly looked without hesitation and was shocked by the sight of the two figures standing. 

It was Tom and Matt.

His lips curved into a smile. He was happy to see them, he completely forgot the situation he was in. He was just super happy to see them after months of searching and wandering aimlessly around the country, he even forgot how his friends ended up with Tord, the last person, or better yet, the only person they would never end up with. 

He was so happy, he smiled.

But, his smile was crushed when he noticed how different they look.

Matt’s face, what happened to his jaw… his eye? There was a freakin’ robot eye moving in his eye socket, and his jaw was replaced with a metal plate. And then there was Tom, whose eyes had a visor strapped on it. His ‘pixelated’ eyes gleamed a neon green in the dark, blinking at Edd. Even their clothing had changed, wearing different outfits from their usual hoodie, but they still bore the two's favourite colours. Most importantly, both of them were indifferent of Edd’s presence. There were no remarks from any of them. They just stood there, quietly.

Then Edd remembered Tord, standing behind him, grinning from ear to ear.

[I]Tord, he did this to them. He DID this to them.

Edd gritted his teeth.

[I]He’s dead.

Anger flowed into his body, his eyes glowed a faint green as green energy formed around his balled fists. He was ready to punch Tord into smithereens, he was ready to kill. 

A sudden sharp pain caught him off guard, as if he was hit with a baseball bat. 

And like a cut tree, he fell to the ground and hit his head, turning the world silent and dark.

In the swirling darkness, he saw that annoying smug-faced Tord with his red eye looking down at him, holding a stun gun. That son of a bitch tased me, Edd’s angry voice echoed in the dark. 

The next thing he saw were his friends, blood profusely dripping from their faces before their mouth stretched, letting out a silent scream, startling Edd even in his dream. A visor was forced onto Tom’s eyes as blood streaks down his cheeks, as if he was crying blood-filled tears. At once, a robot eye and a metal plate were forcefully added to Matt, cracking his neck and tilting his head into an awkward position. Both of their bodies twisted, snapping their bones, morphing them into their new appearances. Their eyes glowed a menacing green and red. 

Then Edd woke up.

His head hurt like hell. His vision blurred, slowly focusing at a blue figure in front of him. He wanted to rub his head, to ease the throbbing pain, but he could not move his hand, both of his hands. In shock he looked down and saw his hands and chest tied to the chair he was in. Desperately he tried to wiggle out from the ropes.

“You’re not going anywhere for awhile, Edd. Just sit tight and save your energy.”

The blue figure, who Edd assumed as Tord, faced the only barred window of the room. The man spun around, flexing his robot hand while walking towards his captive. Edd narrowed his eyes and raised his head in compliance when Tord gently touched his face, allowing their eyes to meet.

“You must be tired from walking all the way to my base, saving me the trouble of finding you myself. I have to thank you for that.”

Tord broke their contact, leaving Edd in a state of confusion. With his head still hurting and his body deprived of food and water, mainly cola, it was hard for him to put two and two together. Steadily, Edd eyed something in the corner of his eye that piqued his attention. It was an operating table with a couple of surgical knives, tweezers and a syringe on it. At that moment, he remembered.

“Tom and Matt, where are they? What in the bloody hell did you do to them?!” Edd yelled.

“Oh, they’re right behind you. Guarding the door.”

Edd quickly turn his head around as best as he could. He felt relieved when he saw them each guarding both sides of the door, but the relief turned into dread when the revelation hit him. Operating table, him tied to a chair.

“You motherfucker. You’re going to turn me like them. I’ll never be like them, not in a million years!” Edd began to hysterically struggle against his bonds.

“Woah, Edd, calm down. It’s not like that. I’m not…” Tord’s words drifted past Edd’s mind as Tord slowly turned in front of him. His horned hairstyle morphed into literal horns, his ears got all pointy, and his teeth were as sharp as a shark's teeth, and his eyes were blood red. In Edd’s eyes, Tord just turned into a demon!

Edd screamed ‘no’, ‘let go’, and other mumbling words multiple times while tugging and pulling against his bonds like a delusional person. The ‘demon’ asked Edd to calm down, but it was futile, his words were not reaching him so he had no choice, but to grab the nearby knife. Carefully, the ‘demon’ approached Edd, who screamed louder when he saw the knife in the demon’s hand.

“Oh fuck, he’s going to kill me. Stab me into pieces like mince meat. I’m gonna die!”

Edd closed his eyes shut as Tord the demon raised the knife. 

[B]SLASH

There was no pain, no blood, only the feeling of his ropes getting loosened. Edd opened his eyes and to his surprise, he was no longer restrained. He set his gaze at the person in front of him, now not a demon, just Tord smiling a sincere smile, standing with a can of cola. Without hesitation, he took the cola, instantly opening the can and letting the cold carbonated drink sate his dry throat. So, like the cola monster he is, he drank it all in one breath. Then, after a satisfied sigh and burp, bless you, he was revitalised.

Tord smiled at his friend, “I’m glad cola always fixes everything for you. You were hallucinating for a minute there.”

Edd rapidly blinked his eyes, “Well, that explains the Tord-turn-into-a-demon thing,” 

Tord opened his mouth to ask, but decided not to question it. 

“Okay, so now I’m confused. What the hell is going on? Why are you suddenly being nice to me? Is this a trick or---”

“Edd I can assure you this isn't a trick, I will try to explain the situation.”

“Okay, you can start by telling me why you tased me before tying me to a chair.”

“Okay okay, I had to. Recently, my base got infiltrated by a clone that looked like one of our own, it's a good thing that the clone wasn’t smart enough to ‘silently’ snoop around the base. Plus, the clone has a mole for a brain, it was obvious. And yes, we’d already checked your body, your brain is still intact, no weird things inside.”

“Ah.”

“I know that I acted like a different person and tased you, but I was just suspicious of you… who suddenly appeared at my doorstep, I had to be careful. And you know how I can be a different person when I get excited and smile like a crazy person when I do weird things.”

“Like watching your hen---”

“OKAY, MOVING ON.” Tord yelled, his face turning red from embarrassment, but the shades of scarlet faded as fast as they came. His face and tone became serious as he looked to the ground, “I… I never wanted this to happen. You shouldn’t even be here with me… not after what I did last time.”

Tord walked past Edd who remained quiet, intending to listen to every word that Tord has to say. The army man then stopped and stood between Tom and Matt, both of them judgingly eyeing the man with disdain.

“I shouldn’t have come back,” Tord let out a tiny laugh, “Look at what happened when I go back." He looked at his hands, the mechanical part of him reminded him of all the things that he had destroyed, the things that he regretted doing. "I… I'm gonna give you some time. I'll be outside if you need me." He then walked out of the room, leaving Edd with Tom and Matt.

Of all the years Edd had known Tord, he'd never seen him so… pitiful. Tord being regretful? Being sad and depressed? That was not the Tord he know. The Tord he knew did not even know what emotions was, aside from being a trigger-happy douchebag. Now, even Edd felt sad for him.

"Urgh, what a drama queen."

Edd’s face lit up. After so many months he finally heard Tom’s voice. The voice that he could not believe he missed. “Guys?” His voice trembled in anticipation, eager to see both of their faces. 

Tom turned around followed by Matt. Both of them were smiling, seemingly happy to see Edd.

“Hey Edd,” Matt said happily. 

Upon hearing his name, Edd shed a tear and ran towards his friends with open arms, hugging them with all of his heart.

“Oof, hugging? Are you still hallucinating? And…” Tom loudly hit Edd’s head, breaking the hug they were having, “Where have you been disappearing to, you Eddhead?”

Edd rubbed his head in pain, “Ow! You’re the one who went missing in the first place. I was searching for you arseheads all around the country.”

Matt interjected, ”And we were looking for your arse too! You make us worry for months. It’s like you disappeared from the face of the Earth.”

“Aargh we all are arseheads here,” Tom said with his arms crossed. Edd and Matt looked at each other before snickering. Then, they just burst into a fit of laughter. 

Tom rolled his pixelated eyes, "Arseheads… okay, enough chit chat. Edd, you must be tired and all, I think mister leader outside has a room ready for you."

"A room?"

"Yeah, you're gonna stay here for a while, maybe forever, I don't know." Matt shrugged.

All three of them left the room, meeting Tord outside. On their way to Edd's room with Tord leading the group, Matt told Edd how they came by Edd's apartment a few months back and were almost scared to death when they found out that Edd wasn't home. Ringo was the only one they could find, so they took her and brought her here, to Tord's base. Edd yelped, he totally forgot all about Ringo when he left to find Tom and Matt, talk about a bad owner. But worry not, Ringo was a great cat, even when their old house blew up, she still managed to survive.

"So how did you guys end up with Tord? Did Tord really kidnap both of you?" Edd said while staring at Tord.

"No, as much as I hate to say it, he's the one who saved us," Tom answered, letting his arms cross in irritation. "Heh, but the only reason we were taken was because we got something to do with him, ain't that right, mister Red Leader sir?" Tom directed the statement to Tord, who continues to walk silently, leaving Tom to huff in anger.

Edd was perplexed, wondering what the heck happened for the last six months. It was a question that needed more answers since they were still hiding it. Edd moved to a new question instead.

"Oh and what about the visor, robot eye and metal plate thing? How did you get that?"

Tom's visor flickered a neon red while Matt looked away, somehow upset by the question.

"Uh, well…" Tom dragged his words, leaving Edd more in the dark. Thankfully, Tom was saved from the potentially awkward moment when they arrived at Edd’s room. “I’ll tell you later, let’s see your room first.”

When am I gonna get some answers… Edd thought, eyeing both Tom and Matt as they entered the room.

The room was spacious. It had a single bed, a wardrobe and a table along with a chair. Green was painted all over the walls of the room, matching with the green bed sheets and dark green carpet. The smell of cat food lingered in the air as a grey tabby cat lay on the bed.

“Ringo!” Edd called out to his favourite cat. The cat’s ears perked up before she quickly turned her head and meowed at Edd. Excited, Ringo jumped out of the bed and into Edd’s embrace. “Oh Ringo, I’m so sorry for leaving you.” 

Ringo lovingly meowed, purring and snuggling into Edd.

Tom and Matt smiled at the small reunion of Edd and his cat. Edd grinned. Finally, he was feeling happier than the months before this. 

Everyone was happy, except for Tord, who stood by the door frame, watching from afar. Even after seeing them happy and smiling, he could only manage to smile for a moment before walking away, leaving them in their happiness that he never deserved to have.

_To be continued..._


	2. You Know What You Did

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The dark can both be the most comforting place to be in and the most frightening when it shows the things that you hide.

Tord opened his eyes as the cool night breeze kissed his cheeks. 

He found himself standing in the middle of an endless grassy field that danced in the wind. On his left, a moon appeared in the star-filled sky, shining its silvery light onto a familiar hill. Curious, he let his body move on autopilot, seemingly compelled to walk towards the hill, like a moth attracted to the light. 

Upon reaching the top of the hill, he stopped and stood at the edge, letting the breeze caress his body as he gazed at the stars above before looking down at a house. It was not just an ordinary house, it was the same house that he and his friends lived in where they shared great memories of adventure and mischief, still standing in all of its glory. 

Tord swiftly climbed down, carefully descended the hill with ease. However, the moment he set foot on the ground, he felt something stir inside of him. Something dark and dreadful, as if the ground could open up below him and eat him whole. It was unsettling, but he ignored the foreign feeling and focused on reaching the house in front of him. 

The man continued walking until he was standing at the front door. His hand reached for the door knob, but he stopped when a cold shiver ran down his spine. The feeling of dread returned. It was bone-chilling and nerve-wracking, as if warning him not to open the door. Tord hesitated, but opened the door nevertheless, swinging the door into a dark living room. 

A rush of nostalgia filled him as he wandered inside. Stopping by a red sofa, he brushed his hand against the fabric, recollected the feeling of sitting lazily on it back in the day. Playing games with Edd, having the normal hustle with Tom, watching movies with Matt, with all of his friends. Upon thinking of his friends, they appeared in front of him, sitting on the sofa with each of them wearing their favourite hoodie, leaving Tord to feel left out as he was the only one who wore an ordinary grey t-shirt. 

His friends smiled and laughed together while Tord only stood behind them, watching. In his heart he wanted so badly to join them, to sit on that stupid sofa and hug their stupid asses and smile a sincere smile with them… but he couldn’t do it. It was something he could never bear to do after what he did. He didn’t deserve to smile with them. 

_ He deserves to die alone. _

Suddenly everything started to fade to black. The living room and his friends disappeared, leaving a shocked Tord behind. Before he could do anything else, a trap door opened below him causing the Norwegian to fall into an abyss.

Falling, sinking into an opaque dark water; a void that swallowed and threw him into his insecurities, his doubts. His. Guilts. 

Fear gripped his chest. 

Desperately, he tried to reach the trap door where his friends were, the place he wanted to be other than this terrible nightmare, but it only floated farther away from him, becoming a fading light of hope in escaping the dark.

Tord slowly sunk, his hand still trying to reach the nonexistent light. 

_ Dark. _

It was suffocating, he couldn’t breathe.

_ Darker and darker. _

It numbed his senses. His body felt heavier every second the darkness enveloped him.

_ Darkest. _

It lulled him, comforted him, ushered him to close his eyes.

Tord gritted his teeth and shook his head, fighting the urges, refusing to heed its sweet embrace. Then, a sudden loud rattling caught his ears. He glanced at his robot arm that floated in front of him, shaking and clunking like it had a mind of its own. In awe Tord watched as pieces of metal and mechanical components broke off and floated upwards, revealing his real biological arm unscathed. Tord inspected the arm in disbelief, he just got his freaking arm back.

It felt so real.

And so was the pain.

Tord screamed as deep cuts started to scatter on his arm. One by one, the cuts appeared and opened up, painfully exposing his flesh and bones. From his fingertips, second degree burns slowly burned his skin, spreading to his hand, his forearm, until his entire arm was burned and filled with blisters, changing the skin colour from a healthy light brown into deep-hued red. He could only watch in horror and wail in pain as the same arm that he lost and just got back for a short moment relived the same wounds from the giant robot incident.

The wave of burns and blisters continued to ravage its way to his neck and onto his face, drying out and cracking the skin before the burns melted his right eye like a candle wax. The man screamed even louder until his throat ached and tears poured down his cheeks from the excruciating pain.

Whimpers of agony echoed in the dark as Tord pleaded to whoever heard him to make the pain stop and take him as far away as possible, but Tord’s torment was far from over when his past memories creeped into him. It showed, replayed everything that happened on the day his regrets started and it harboured inside his mind as he stayed on the hill until the sun disappeared. Vividly, he saw his friends' faces standing together in front of him. They no longer have a beautiful smile and the radiant of happiness they always had一only hurtful, disappointed and angry expressions graced their faces. His heart broke into pieces, tears threatened to fall again from a pain worse than his wounds, a pain that was invisible to the naked eye, a pain that mimicked a stab to the heart. Remorse filled his mind, asking himself how things ended up this way. How he was the one that severed their friendship. How he didn’t mean to go too far, he was just… he wanted to… 

But no amount of words could justify his actions.

_ I thought we were friends. _

His heart skipped a beat after hearing Edd’s ghostly voice. He broke down, clutching his face with his unharmed hand and sobbed uncontrollably like a child. His mouth quivered. 

“I-I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I’m sorry Edd. Please, I’m sorry. Please… I’m so---”

In a split second, a blue spear impaled him, protruding its sharp and bloody end in front of his chest, shocking the man and jolted him back to the waking world. 

Tord sat up on his bed, panting laboured breath as his heart pounded crazily against his chest. He brought his robot hand to his face and closed his remaining eye, trying so hard to calm himself and think about the dream he just had. Or in this case, another nightmare added to his nightmare collection.

After a moment passed, Tord moved to sit at the edge of his bed and brought his hands down, looking at the palms of his hands, focusing more on his robot arm as its red-coloured metal reminded him of his mangled piece of meat he called arm from his nightmare and from past experiences. Tord’s eye twitched from the sudden phantom pain that arose from time and time again. He rubbed his robot arm and where the metal part connected to his body, hopefully to ease the piercing pain.

As he weirdly massaged his robot arm like a real arm, he closed his eye and let his mind drift. Darkness filled his vision, reminding him of the same darkness he fell into minutes ago. By heart he knew what the darkness represented, what it meant to him, and why it always engulfed him every single time to torment him with past memories and most importantly, guilt. 

He admitted that he couldn’t let go of the past. He felt guilty for what he did to his friends, especially to Edd, whose disappointed face he could never forget along with the words that were laced with betrayal. Why did he say he didn’t need friends? Was it because he got drunk with power and acting like a crazy person or did he really meant it? Did he… really mean every word? He wasn’t sure. What was wrong with him. It's like he was a different person when he went back, he couldn't even recognize himself. 

And now this darkness, this guilt that he bore turned against him, haunting his mind day and night. He could literally feel and imagine the darkness taking form一the stomping of hooved feet, a lizard-like tail whipping behind it as a pair of leathery wings opened up and two horns erupted over his head in place of his hair, its remaining eye glowing red. The darkness became a dark version of himself, an alter ego ready to break free and cause chaos.

A demon.

Tord opened his eye when a knock on the door brought him back to reality. He confusedly glanced at his door, wondering who might be knocking so early in the morning, but at the same time grateful that someone came and broke his trance. 

The Norwegian got up and went for the door, opening it. 

His eye widened in surprise when his friends stood outside; Tom checking his pad while Matt and Edd were talking behind him. Upon hearing the door open, all three of them looked at Tord with smiles on their faces and even grumpy eyeless Tom smiled. It was heartwarming, to say the least. 

Tord never knew that one day, his friends could be living here in his base, greeting him. For a moment when he blinked, he saw his friends from the time they went for adventures together, wearing hoodies of their favourite colours just like old times. Perhaps, the thought, some things never change, even after what happened in the past. 

His nightmares were still deeply etched in his memory, but for once, he tossed it away, giving them a toothy smile. 

He chose to cherish every single moment that passed him by. 

~

~~~

~

Extra

Tom: Hey, why aren’t you ready for Edd’s orientation?! I was just about to gloat to your face after you complained about my tardiness for morning roll call and now you put the same stunt to mock me?!

Matt: Your tardiness was everyday, unlike Tord who only had one slip up.

(Tord saw Edd wore something on his green hoodie)

Tord: Umm Edd, that black overcoat…

Edd: Oh this, I found it in your basement. Since everyone wore different outfits now, I need to be upgraded too. (Tord’s mind: It looks familiar… )

~

~~~

~

**Bonus Scene**

Later that night

3.00 a.m.

It was quiet as Tord stood alone on the rooftop of his base. The sea of trees that surrounded it sways slightly in the night wind, leaving Tord shivering in his simple night attire一a pale red t-shirt with black pants, regretting he didn’t wear a sweater when he went up there. The man let out a heavy sigh, leaning closer to the railings and setting his sight into the distance, not focusing on anything in particular.

He enjoyed coming up here during the daytime when he was stressed out from work, but tonight he couldn’t enjoy the peaceful night as his mind was still plagued from the nightmare he just had.

**You know what you did.**

Tord gritted his teeth to the words that lingered in his mind, speaking in his very own distorted voice. It was filled with accusation, yet it burned with truth because he knew very well what he did, what he did to his friends as if the years he spent with them were nothing.

**There is no redemption for you… only THE END.**

Tord’s hands balled into fists as he recalled the nightmare. He remembered the blood red ocean that he stood in while he held his stubbed arm that bled profusely, pouring and adding more blood into the red masses around him. And his face, it stung like the burns he had suffered after the robot incident, eating at his face, biting into his nerves with pain. He cried, wanting this nightmare to end, never in his life had he cried this hard. Then, the red ocean shifted and a black winged demon emerged from the red ocean, looming several feet taller than him and pointing its sharp claw at Tord. Repeating ‘you know what you did’ like a broken record.

The demon’s distorted voice caused him to shake in fear. Little did he know, someone was sneaking behind him, both hands raised ready to pounce at a defenseless man...

“Hey Tord!” Edd’s loud voice startled Tord off his feet, his robot hand clinging to the railings for his dear life while the other balled into a fist. Edd burst into a laughing fit, causing the poor man to narrow his eye in annoyance at the perpetrator. 

“Edd! I almost throat punched you!” Tord yelled, receiving another laughter from his friend. “Jeez, don’t ever do that again. Seriously, I could really punch you Edd.” Edd only hummed in disbelief, raising his eyebrows at his friend, who was steadying himself, “Really, I could do that to you. I have a freakin’ robot arm.” 

“Haha sorry, can’t help myself scaring people when they are so vulnerable.” Tord glared at his friend, who was smiling like a smeg head that Tord knew so well and coincidentally, he was wearing his famous ‘smeg head’ t-shirt and brown sleeping pants, holding two cola cans in his hands. “Okay okay, as an apology you can have my cola,” Edd gave Tord one of his cola, “But you have to buy me a truck full of cola for this.”

Tord took the cola with a surprised look, “Seriously? I just gave you a personal fridge full of cola this morning and you still want more?” 

“Yes, for emergency's sake.”

_ Greedy bastard. _

Tord thought before sighing heavily, letting out a small laugh, his friend’s love of cola never changed, perhaps it grew exponentially higher than before. Edd clicked open his cola can and drank it happily as he leaned against the railing. Tord couldn’t help but smiling for his friend. It was nice to have people that he once knew be with him in his base, not soldiers, not new recruits, just his old friends. The man fiddled with the cola can in his hands, wishing with all of his heart that this moment would stay forever; Tord and Edd alone on the roof, drinking cola and without a care in the world.

“Tord,” The army man jumped, startled by the call of his name that ruined the silence. Edd snickered, “You’re jumpy tonight. Well, I want to ask about your eyepatch. Why didn’t you get the same robot eye like Matt’s?”

Tord thought about a good answer to give. The truth was he wanted the eyepatch to be a reminder of his blunders after the giant robot incident, a real physical reminder for what happened to him and what he did to his friends. Plus, Matt needed the robot eye replacement more than Tord needs it and as a redemption after what his enemies put them through.

With confidence and a sly grin, he said, “Because Edd, my old friend, the eyepatch looked better on me than a robot eye.”

“Hmm… yeah, the eyepatch looked cooler, like a real life pirate.” Tord sighed in relief. “Oh, oh- and please tell me what happened to Tom and Matt?” 

Tord choked at the question, it wasn’t his place to tell Edd what happened when Tom and Matt weren’t here.

“Well y-you have to ask them about it. They probably won’t like it if I tell you without their permission.”

“Huh, jeez, another cliffhanger. When the fuck are you guys gonna tell me the truth?” Edd leaned further onto the railings, his chubby cheeks touched the cold metal as he sipped more cola.

Tord gazed at his friend’s predicament, at least Edd didn’t push the question at Tord, that would be hard to avoid answering since Edd can be very determined to get what he wants to know. Like finding Tom and Matt. Edd would never step foot outside of his room just to manhunt his missing friends, Edd wasn’t the person that cares that much unless it was cola related. It was surprising for Tord, but he suspected Edd’s changed behaviour was a result after that robot incident he caused. 

Everything changed because of Tord, he was the root of the change. The reason Tom and Matt being here, and now Edd. A part of Tord felt like it was a dream come true to have them all here. But at the same time, he felt guilty for dragging them into this life that they don’t even want. It was a contradiction, a whirlwind of two completely different thoughts bundled in one head.

“Hello Eddsworld to Tord,” Edd waved his hand in front of Tord’s face, snapping him back from his train of thoughts. Tord blinked his eye rapidly saying ‘what’. 

“You’ve been gone for a few minutes.”

“Oh I was thinking.”

“About what?”

“Uh… stuff.”

“Must be about big boss leader things huh.”

“Y-yeah, something like that.” Tord hesitated, but it was better not to let Edd or anybody else know the things going on in his head. He felt guilty just thinking about a sliver of the things he did in the past, another sleepless night will surely greet him. 

Edd merely gave a small laugh at Tord’s answer before resuming his drink as silence once again filled the space between them. Tord kept fiddling with the cola can in his hands, anxiety building up from the quietness of the situation that somehow begged him to talk to Edd. To tell his friend what he really felt from his past sins. How he was sorry and how he would make up for it. He will make sure of it, he promised. He promised with his life.

“I’m glad you left the house,” Tord quickly lifted his head and stared at his friend after hearing his soft voice. Half-emptied cola can still in hand, his friend looked to the sky, smiling, “If you didn’t, you’ll probably rot in that house along with us three idiots that don’t have a dream beside living in the same house for a million years.” Edd glanced around the red base, “And this is a great place you got here. Not the big city that you mention when you want to follow your dreams, but that's the thing about dreams, you have lots of it. Dreams always change, right, just need to find the right one. At least you’re happy,” Edd looked Tord in the eye, giving the guy his biggest smile “I’m happy for you, Tord.”

Tord was speechless. Edd was happy for him, for what he had achieved despite the things he did to the house, despite the things he had said to him. He wasn’t mad? Why didn’t he hold a grudge against him? Tord didn’t understand.

“Edd… aren’t you mad at me? Angry for what I did to the house? Hiding a giant robot beneath it and using it to destroy everything?” Anger and confusion filled Tord’s voice as he faced his friend.

Edd felt Tord’s change of tone and straightened his pose, “I was angry at you. ‘Was’. I’m not the kind of person that would stay mad forever.”

“No you uh--- you should have--- I-I don’t---,” Tord was stuttering, unable to form the words out loud.

“What more do you want from me Tord? You want me to take revenge for what you did? Kill you?”

Tord gazed downwards and answered with a quiet sigh and Edd took it as a ‘yes’, he did want Edd to kill him. Edd heavily sighed, “Well, if it makes you a little bit better, I did want to kill you when I thought that you kidnapped Tom and Matt,” the man leaned his back against the railings while Tord remained standing in his spot, “But I decided not to after you told me that you'd saved and helped them. You even gave Ringo and me a room to stay in your base. Isn’t that enough?” 

Edd wanted an answer from the Norwegian, but he received none as if the man shut down from excessive use. So, Edd walked closer to Tord and tried talking again, “Come on, Tord, if you’re gone, who’s gonna run this army base?” Edd put his hands on Tord’s shoulders, “It’s your mini empire that you created and the only overlord here is you.” The Norwegian lifted up his head, tears brimming his eye, and hugged his friend with all of his might. Edd patted his back, hoping it could sooth his friend.

Thoughts were popping up inside Tord's mind, he wanted to say how sorry he was for ruining Edd and his friends life. How sorry he was for dragging them into this world, Tord's life of endless conflicts. He was sorry that he said he never needed friends when he needed them so much. But in the end, he only managed to say he was sorry, nothing more.

“I’m sorry Edd. I’m so sorry.” Tord desperately said into Edd’s t-shirt, hugging and clinging to Edd. 

“We all make mistakes. Just don’t do it again, okay?” Tord nodded as he hugged his friend tighter for a minute before letting go, wiping some tears off in his eye.

“Better?”

“Yeah, thanks Edd.” Both of them stared at each other, smiling.

“You’re welcome, but I think I need more payment than just a thank you.” Edd's smile turned wicked, his eyes filled with excitement with a tinge of craziness in it.

Tord grimaced, “Seriously, what do you want? More cola?” 

"That and another thing."

~

~~~

~

Extra

(Edd yelled while riding on a tank around the red army base. Paul ran towards Patryck who was standing by, watching the ordeal from afar.)

Paul: What happened? Are we under attack?

Patryck: Relax, just Red Leader and his friend.

Paul: Argh another false alarm. His friends are the reason I can't get enough sleep nowadays.

(Paul lie down, sprawling on the ground)

Patryck: It’s for the better. Especially when Red Leader’s psychological state seems to stabilize after they are here. 

(Paul remembered the time after the giant robot incident, after they had to cut his arm off due to it being infected and damaged beyond repair. On that day, Red Leader seemed to lose not only his arm, but also a part of himself. A part that was connected to his past seemed to be broken or possibly destroyed with guilt from what he had done.)

Paul: But they still interrupt my sleep.

Patryck: Oh, stop complaining, the real reason you didn’t get your sleep is because you’re a lazy log that didn’t finish his report in time.

(Patryck lightly kicked Paul’s boots)

Paul: *grunts* Whatever...

_To be continued..._


	3. Bats and Slashes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A prequel to Dark Heart: Reunion and Dark Heart: You Know What You Did. This is a story retelling the 3 days Tom and Matt in captivity, featuring their kidnappers; General Zhihao Lee and Sergeant Lea Steinmetz.
> 
> General Zhihao Lee and Sergeant Lea Steinmetz are my OCs created for this story.
> 
> This fanfic is a theory I have for future Tom and Matt, they got captured by Tord's rival. They were kidnapped and tortured for information since they had a connection with Tord, Edd didn't get kidnapped because he went cola shopping that day.

Day 1

Tom never knew sleeping could be this tiresome. His body felt stiff and sore all over as if he was standing for hours. And weirdly enough, it does feel like he was standing, or rather in an upright position? He wasn’t sure… But why? Shouldn’t he be laying on the bed to sleep?

Tom groaned, slowly he opened his eyes and blinked himself awake. The room had grey-coloured walls and only lighted by a single light bulb above his head. Swiftly he moved his head sideways to look around, but he quickly hissed as something rough was rubbing against his forehead. He didn't know what the thing was, but as soon as he instinctively moved his hands to rub it, his heart dropped to the floor, his stomach churn, forgetting all together about the pain on his forehead.

Now he was sure he wasn’t lying down because he could feel his hands painfully tied around a pillar behind him, and he could finally see a rope on his forehead, tying his head to the pillar which answered the pain. Even his legs, he couldn’t move it at all, he was literally tied from his head to his ankles. And another thing that he noticed was that he was half-naked, wearing only his pants.

"What the hell?" Tom rasped.

"Tom, you're up."

Tom was startled by the sudden sound of voice, a very familiar voice.

"Matt?" He looked to his left despite the restraints on his head and managed to see Matt's smiling face, a few feet from him. "Matt, why the hell am I naked and tied up here? And where are we---" Tom stopped talking when he saw Matt's half-naked body hanging beside him like a punching bag. Thick ropes tied his hands together to the ceiling while his bounded legs barely touch the ground.

"My arms are getting tired Tom and I can hardly feel them." Matt croaked, looking at his bounded hands, trying to move his hands through the restraints. Tom's breathing quickens as panic started to seep into his chest; both of them tied up, waking in an unknown room and half-naked? They were kidnapped. They must have been kidnapped unless this was a prank by…

"Edd! You smeg head! This isn't funny! Get us out of here you arsehole!" Tom shouted while he struggled through his bonds.

Suddenly there was an eerie, loud laughter from behind them that turned Tom's face pale. It wasn't the giggly laughter that he anticipates from Edd, but a woman's laughter that sent shivers up his spine. A cold hand touched Tom's shoulder, causing him to yelp in surprise as a woman leaned onto Tom, still laughing.

"Wow you thought this is a prank? Oh no, this is as real as it can get." The woman walked between Tom and Matt, standing with her arms wide open. "You just got kidnapped!"

Tom and Matt stared at her in disbelief while she took out a walkie-talkie and talked into it, "Sergeant they're awake, please come in here with my bag."

The woman in front of them was wearing a black overcoat over her red undershirt and green cargo pants. Her messy long black hair sways as she took a chair from a table at the corner of the room and sat closer to Tom, smiling and staring at the man with her black eyes.

Before Tom could say anything, the metal door creaked open as another woman with glasses entered with a duffle bag. The newcomer had short black hair and wore a brown leather jacket over her black shirt and dark brown cargo pants. Her glasses glinted when she put the duffle bag down beside the long haired woman before she sat at the corner of the room, playing with her phone.

"Thank you Sergeant. Alright," the long haired woman claps her hands together, "I guess we can start now."

Tom shouted, "Who the hell are you? Why the fuck are we here and why are we---,"

"Woah woah, slow down," the woman interjected. "Before anything else, let's get to know each other first, shall we? I am General Lee and this is Sergeant Steinmetz." The General pointed to the other woman, who slightly waved while looking at her phone. "And you must be Tom and Matt. Tord's friends."

"Todd?" Matt asked.

"Tord. T-o-r-d, Tord." The General corrected.

Tom sighed heavily, of course getting kidnapped and tied by some strangers was because of Tord, what else.

"What that arsehole did this time? Destroyed your house too. Or did he break your heart as a terrible boyfriend? Sorry, but you just waste your time with us, we have nothing to do with him anymore. And we sure as hell don't know where he is right now."

The General snickered, "You're funny. But no, he didn't destroy anything of ours and he definitely didn't break our hearts. We just want to know where he is, and friends usually know where their friends are."

"I'd already told you we don't know where he is. And I'm not his fucking friend. Just how many times do I need to say that?"

"Oh really now. You don't know anything about his location, his Red Army base, at all?"

"No. He never told us anything and as a matter of fact, I don't even care about him."

"Okay, what about you Matt?" The General glanced at Matt, who quietly hangs from the ceiling. "Did Tord or Todd, told you anything about where he is right now? Where his Red Army base is located?"

"Oh, um no, sorry. If I knew I would tell you." Matt paused as he struggled through his bounded hands. "And please, can I get down from here? My hands started to hurt real bad." Matt pleaded, but both women didn't even bother to acknowledge him. They simply ignored him like a fly flying above their heads.

The General continued, "Seriously both of you don't have a single clue of Tord's whereabouts?"

Tom sighed, annoyed by the same question that they clearly didn't have an answer to. "What more do you want us to say?! We have no fucking idea where he is right now! We don't even care what he's been doing for the past eight years he left us and we certainly don't care after he left us again! We don't know where he is!" Tom yelled, panting after saying everything in one breath. "Now can you please untie us and let us go."

The General seems to be thinking, leaning her back into the chair, assessing her thoughts while she looked at the ceiling. Tom and Matt gave a pleading look at her, hoping that this was all just a misunderstanding and she would let them go.

She looks at them with malicious eyes, "No, I won't let you go until you tell me what I want to know."

Tom frustratedly thrashed in his bonds, shouting, "We don't know anything! That fucking sunshine lollipops never told us about his damn base or where he is right now! He never told us anything! Just let us go, you fucking bitch!"

The General smilingly looks at her Sergeant, "Time for some torture and torment." She stood up and took the duffle bag, unzipping it before pouring the contents on the table. Multiple knives, blades and daggers fell onto the table. She then carefully picks up one knife to another, inspecting each one of her collection of knives before finally she found the perfect one. It was a simple dagger with an intricate golden handle.

"W-what are you going to do with that?" Matt's voice trembled while Tom stayed quiet, looking at the dagger with wide eyes. The eyeless man started to feel uneasy when his bare stomach and chest were opened for her to do anything she wanted.

"It's slashy time for Tom," The General smiled before turning to Matt. "You just hang in there and wait your turn."

Anger burns Tom's throat as he huffed, "We don't know anything, you crazy bitch! Just let us go already!" Tom shouted, struggling through the ropes that slowly burns his skin.

"You know Tom it's not really a good idea to bad talk at your torturers." The smiling General put the dagger's tip just below Tom's eye, steadily pushing it into the skin. Tom breathed through gritted teeth as his heart pumps faster in mere seconds, but he kept looking at her with hatred and fear.

"Because I'm the one with a dagger." In a swift movement she slashed Tom's cheek, cutting open the skin and letting blood seeps through. Tom gasped from the cut, he couldn't see it, but he could feel the blood streaks down his cheek and onto his bare chest.

At the sight of blood, the General's smile grew wider, "We need some music." She took out her phone, scrolling through it, "Just now I heard you said sunshine lollipops. It's been a long time since I last heard that song." Her finger stop scrolling, "Huh, 1 minute and 36 seconds? Plenty of time to cut you up."

She hit the play button and put the phone on the table. The song filled the room as she walked closer to Tom, the dagger readied in her hand.

_Sunshine, lollipops and rainbows ~_

_Everything that's wonderful is what I feel when we're together ~_

Tom cursed the General when she lightly poke his abdomen with the dagger's tip. She smiled in delight before slowly slashing it across his abdomen, causing Tom to yell in pain and struggled vainly to get away from her. She then continued creating a new cut at Tom's bare abdomen, eyeing the cut with great care and earning another pained yell from the eyeless man.

Next was Tom's arm, she swinged the dagger left and right, cutting the skin and flesh as blood slowly flowed from the open wounds. She deliciously licked her lip and hungrily stared at the pretty red liquid flowing from it. Tom screamed even more and the General greatly enjoyed every screams he made that beautifully blends with the music.

Then she waltzed behind Tom and put the dagger below his ribs, swiftly slicing it upwards, creating a long cut that reached his shoulder. Tom arched his back, letting out a wail while the General continued with her onslaught and cut the other side of Tom's back, laughing at the man's reaction.

The music played on as she worked her way to Tom's other arm. The eyeless man pants, his throat sore from screaming and he was sweating bullets, and yet the woman continued slashing and laughing at him. Tom gritted his teeth and suppressed his screams when more cuts form on his arm before saying every curse word that he could think of at her.

_My life is sunshine, lollipops and rainbows ~_

She circled Tom again and repeated the slashing, making sure that every inch of Tom's exposed skin was cut and bleed. Every cut caused Tom to yell, curse, grit his teeth and desperately struggled in his bonds. And every cut made; she smiled, laughed and danced around Tom, creating more cut as she swinged the dagger around.

_Cause you're in love, you're in love ~_

_And love is here to stay ~_

The room went silent when the song finished playing, and a loud laboured panting from Tom filled the room instead. Blood and sweat mixed together on his skin before some of them fell to the floor. He didn't know how much cuts she did, but it was enough to make his upper body to sting like hell.

Tom glared at the General, who took a step back and inspected her work like an artist looking at her canvas.

"Ah, I forgot to write something," the General stepped forward and held Tom's shoulder to the pillar while she aimed her dagger's bloody tip at Tom's chest. Carefully she pushed the tip down until it drew blood and slowly she slided it down at Tom's bare skin. Every stroked and cut she made, blood leaked from the opened wound. Every. Single. Time. It was a mesmerizing moment that she loved so much.

Tom tiredly grunted and cursed from the pain, the pain that he seems to grow accustomed to after receiving so many cuts from that maniac. Tom closed his eyes, enduring it, feeling the dagger digs into his skin and moved around on his chest like it was a toy.

The General finished the task and stepped back, "All done. That word looks really good on you Tom." The General happily looked at the word 'BITCH' that she carved onto Tom's chest.

"Bitch!" Tom opened his eyes and angrily yelled at the General, putting all of his hate into his voice.

"Exactly," The General smiled at Tom before turning her back at him, picking up her phone. "Okay, we're done for the day. Oops I'm sorry, night. It's 1 a.m., sleep time Sergeant ~" She excitedly sang as she packed up her knives and slinged the duffle bag over her shoulder. The Sergeant went to the door and opened it.

"Wait," Matt said as his hanged body sways. "Can you at least put me down. I don't know if my hands can handle this."

The Sergeant stares at Matt, "No."

Instead she took a chair and placed it under Matt's bounded legs. Matt immediately placed his legs on top of it, standing and sighing in relief as his hands no longer pulled his weight.

"You can only have the chair to stand on." She said before leaving the room.

"Goodnight Tom! See you tomorrow." The General waved her hand at Tom before closing the door behind her, leaving Tom and Matt alone in the room.

"You goddamn bitch! If I get my hands on you… I will fucking kill you!" Tom huffed. For a minute he struggled to free himself from the ropes, but the action only made him tired and light-headed. "Fuck!" Tom screamed before panting and leaning into the pillar behind him.

"Are you alright Tom?" Matt asked.

"No. I'm fucking piss at that slasher bitch… and Tord too! This is all because we're his 'friends'… fuck you Tord! Fuck you!" Tom shouted his lungs out before calming down, thinking of a way to escape this. Tom looked at Matt who was standing on a chair.

"Matt, do you think you can untie the ropes on your hands using your teeth?"

Matt looked at his bound hands and bit down on the ropes, pulling at it as hard as he could. After trying so much he stopped, "I can't, the rope is too thick. I need a knife to cut it."

Tom looked around the table where the General put her knives on, just in case she accidentally left one. But to his dismay, there was none.

"Shit! They don't leave anything behind at all." Tom sighed heavily.

Both of them were quiet for a moment before the ginger spoke, "Do you think they plan to kill us after they have done with the torturing?"

Tom didn't know what to answer, the answer was probably yes, but he didn't want to die by the hands of some crazy chicks before he could kill Tord for dragging them into this.

"I don't know. We'll just have to wait for tomorrow."

~

~~~

~

Day 2

Time flies very slowly when you can't sleep.

Tom's eyes were tired, but he wasn't exactly in a comfortable position to sleep, and neither was Matt. To past the time, they did talk to each other about Edd, whether their kidnappers took that idiot as well. It could be that he was held and tortured in a different room, or Edd was lucky enough to not get captured. He was one lucky bastard to begin with, so they agreed it was the latter.

They were quiet for the rest of the night and after so many short sleep that Tom had lost count, the metal door creaked open as two women entered.

"Good morning everyone!" The happy General greeted, carrying a bucket of clear water into the room while the other woman put her duffle bag on the ground in front of Matt. "How is everyone today?"

Tom glared at the General and her sickening happy attitude after what she did yesterday. He felt disgusted just for having her standing and smirking in front of him.

"Still sleepy Tom?" The General lifted the bucket to her chest, "Maybe this will help." She then threw the water at Tom, who looked away and held his breath. He didn't think too much of the water touching his opened and healing cuts, all he had to do was bear with it.

But he thought wrong.

Seconds after the water drenched his body, his cuts started burned. Tom screamed and cursed, thrashing around in his bounds, trying to curl away in pain, but to no vain. He couldn't run away from the stinging pain that started to make his head spin.

"Tom! What was in that water?!" Matt angrily yelled at the General.

"Oh it's not water. It's smirnoff, Tom's favourite alcohol. You fucking love your alcohol so much, I let you soak in it." She walked to the duffle bag and took a bottle of smirnoff, "And on a side note Tom, I bought all of the alcohol using your money. I'm so very sorry." She sarcastically states before grinning.

"You bitch! I'm going to kill you!" Tom howled, pulling at the ropes that tied him to the pillar.

"If you can get yourself free, I might give you a chance." The General opened the smirnoff, "Now open your mouth and drink."

At the corner of his eyes, the woman called Sergeant gave Matt a mineral water to drink. Honestly, Tom was feeling very thirsty from all the yelling, so hatefully he listened to the General and opened his mouth, drinking the smirnoff. He slowly drank it as he spitefully stared at her, cursing her with all of his might.

When Tom finished drinking, the General pulled back and Tom took the chance to spurt some smirnoff at her face, causing her to recoil in surprise. He smiled and triumphantly laughed before spat at her as a finishing touch.

"Surprise bitch! Bet you didn't see that coming!"

Silently, the General wiped her face before she furiously glared at Tom. She tightly gripped the empty bottle and struck Tom's head with it. The bottle pinged and didn't break after the hit, still intact in the General's hand while Tom grunted in pain, feeling dizzy and disoriented, but he managed to laugh it off.

"Ah totally worth it."

"You fucking bastard, you wanted to die aren't you!" She threw the bottle to the ground, breaking it into pieces as she angrily stomped closer to Tom. But her Sergeant stopped her, shaking her head. The General seething rage diminished and her mouth curved into a wicked smile, slowly laughing crazily at Tom.

"Actually I was waiting for you to do something stupid, so you could regret doing it." She looked at her Sergeant, "Okay Sergeant, you're up."

"Finally." The Sergeant smiled for the first time as she took off her brown jacket, walking to the duffle bag and brought out a blue aluminium bat. She tested the bat in her hands before batting it around.

Tom's face turned pale, "What the fuck are you going to do with that?"

The Sergeant ignored Tom and proceeded to pull the chair that was under Matt, causing the man to yelp in surprise and hanged from his wrist once again.

The Sergeant glanced at Tom, resting the bat on her shoulder, "What do you think I'm going to do with this?"

Tom was about to shout when the General put a duct tape on his mouth and taped it around the pillar he was in. His angry voice was muffled, but he kept struggling under the tape, screaming to the torturers.

The Sergeant aimed her bat at Tom, "You were noising yesterday. The tape is to keep you quiet while I'm grounding this ginger."

"What? No no no. Please. Please don't hurt me, we already told you, we don't know where Tord is. We don't know anything. Please let us go." Matt begged at the torturers, but his plea fell on deaf ears. None of the women even paid attention to Matt.

The General removed her smirnoff-soaked black overcoat and took the chair Matt used to stand and sat on it, looking at her phone, "Okay, I'm giving you 1 minute to batter up."

"Hmph, I could kill someone with less time than that." The Sergeant began to practice swinging the bat at Matt's face, stopping an inch away from it, frightening the poor ginger.

"And also, like we talked about Sergeant."

"Yeah yeah I know, don't kill him."

The Sergeant tightened her grip on her blue bat before putting it at Matt's face, sliding it down and stopped at his jaw. She lightly tapped the jaw, eyeing him with malicious intent and focus.

"Please… not my face." Matt pleaded.

In a split second she swung it backwards and hit Matt's jaw, clinking sounds reverberates throughout the room along with Tom's muffled screams. She swung again and hit Matt in the stomach, earning a gasp from the ginger, before continuing the assault at the man's back and again at his stomach.

Matt was puffing in pain, but the Sergeant carried on with her beating while her smiling General watched and Tom angrily huffed at her.

She then rapidly swung the bat at his thighs, repeatedly hitting it several more times. The man yelped and recoiled from the attack, and he screamed once again when he felt like his bones were breaking from the constant attack.

The Sergeant hit Matt's bare stomach again, silencing his screamings as he gasped for air. She spinned Matt's hanging body, showing his backside to her before she clubbed it left and right. The sounds of the metal bat hitting Matt's bare body resonated throughout the room, and the Sergeant bathed in it. She let the sounds fill her body, fueling her swings as every hit got stronger and stronger.

The man tiredly yelled again before the woman spins him again, facing his torturer with her bat ready to strike again.

Her next swing perfectly hit Matt's jaw, breaking it as a sweet crunching sound made the Sergeant smile in amusement. She swung again and broke it even more with her impeccable aim, and the crunching sound of bones breaking was her reward.

Matt painfully cried as his mouth gaped open with blood pooling inside, and his breathing started to get erratic from panic.

She raised her hands in victory, repeatedly shouting 'yes' while walking back and forth in front of Matt, swinging her bat around.

She stopped and opened her arms, yelling, "THAT'S A SOLID CONTACT BY NUMBER 8, LEA STEINMETZ AND HERE IT COMES, HERE IT COMES OOOOH THAT'S A LONG BALL OOOOOOH HOME RUN FOR LEA STEINMETZ!"

Her General's applauds became her sweet background noise as she happily cackled, basking in the adrenalines that intoxicated her, slowly edging the woman towards insanity.

Her head snapped back at Matt as she hungrily gazed at her prey, lining up her knuckles on the baseball bat before hovering it over her shoulder. The woman then aims her bat at Matt's right eye before swinging at it, creating a squishy sound as her hit went straight into his eye. The man didn't have the time to react when the Sergeant swinged again at the ginger's head, causing blood to splatter from his mouth and teeth to clatter to the ground.

The beaten man's body went limp as he fell unconscious, and blood dripped to the floor from his opened, gaping mouth.

The Sergeant continued swinging her baseball bat at Matt's body like a child trying to hit a pinata until the candies burst out from it.

"Okay time's up Sergeant!" The General loudly said to her subordinate, who stopped swinging at the hanging man.

"Oops, he fainted."

The Sergeant poked Matt's bloodied eye with her weapon before she shouldered her bloodied bat and stepped away.

Tom muffled yells and curses filled the room while the General walked to the rope that tied Matt to the ceiling and brought him down to the floor.

"I think it's time for a break. I'm gonna get some food." The General left the room while the Sergeant walked closer to Matt's body and resumed poking at Matt's damaged right eye using her bat.

Tom angrily scowled at her, mouthing 'stop' and curses under his taped mouth.

"Stop doing what?"

The Sergeant nonchalantly said, gripping her bat harder as she drills it further in, deeper into Matt's eye. The poor unconscious man screamed, waking up and frantically wiggled to get away from the pain. But the Sergeant steps on his arms, pinning him in place and puts on more pressure and twisted the bat on his bloodied eye. Matt let out a blood gurgling scream while Tom could only watch his friend writhing on the floor as he struggled again against his bonds, wishing he could stop the torment.

The metal door opened, and the General entered; bringing a small kettle, two mugs and a plastic bag, placing them on the table, ignoring the pained screams from the ginger.

"Come on Sergeant, tea time." The General called before sitting down, pouring the contents of the kettle in each mug. The Sergeant stopped tormenting Matt and walked away from the broken man.

They sat together at the corner of the room, eating and drinking in front of their tortured victims. Tom felt sick to his stomach of what they were doing, smiling and ignoring the things that they did like they did nothing wrong at all.

The General caught Tom staring at them, she smiled back and held up her mug, "Do you like tea, Tom?"

"Fuck you," Tom muffled under the tape.

"I guess that's a no."

Tom muffled incoherent words before frowning at the General, who continued eating and paid no attention to the man.

For the rest of the day, their torturers sat on their chairs watching videos together, talking and laughing like there were only two of them in the room. They seem to forget about the other two; who was in pain on the floor and the one that got tied to a pillar with his mouth still taped to it. Tom was engulfed with hate, he was annoyed at how carefree they were while Matt and him were in the background like wallpapers.

"Alright, that's enough for today." The General got up from her seat and stretched her body before packing up all of their things. The Sergeant put her bat away into the duffle bag and slinged it over her shoulder. The General opened the door and gave a side glanced at Tom.

"Goodnight Tom, we play again tomorrow." She smiled before leaving the room with the Sergeant.

Tom didn't have anymore energy left to make a muffled curse, he was just happy that they finally left the room with their antics. Tom then eyed his friend with concern. Matt has been on the floor, unmoving for hours, looking like a dead person. But Tom sighed in relief when he saw his chest moved to breathe.

Tom's eyes were tired from sleep deprivation, his stomach growled from hunger, and his cut-filled body ached from standing for two days straight. Slowly darkness took hold of him and he dreamed a dreamless sleep.

~

~~~

~

Day 3

"Wake up sleepyhead!"

The General threw smirnoff again at Tom's face and body, waking the man from his sleep.

Tom gasped, coughing from the sudden alcohol that painfully entered his nose and mouth. Thankfully when the smirnoff soaked his body - his cuts - it didn't hurt as much as yesterday's smirnoff splash.

The General then took off the duct tape on Tom's mouth while the Sergeant hoisted Matt up, hanging him again. Curiously the eyeless man watched his friend grunted in pain, and Tom's eyes widened in surprise when he saw bluish bruises on his body, his jaw and his swollen red eye.

As soon as the duct tape was off, Tom tiredly asked, "Why are you hanging him again? Are you going to keep tormenting us until we die?"

The General smiled and laughed, "Just wait and see."

She walked away from Tom and set up a camera on a tripod stand in front of Tom and Matt while her Sergeant opened a laptop on the table, typing keys into it.

"We're doing a livestream to your friend Tord." The General said as she stood facing Tom and Matt.

"For what?"

"To show you guys to him of course!"

"Why? I thought you just wanted to know where he is."

The General snickered, "We lied."

"What?"

"You see Tom, before we kidnapped both of you. We did our research beforehand. We already read every piece of information about you, Matt and Edd like it was a freaking wiki page. Basically we know pretty much everything, and… we definitely know that you have no clue where Tord is. He never told you anything about his life in the military after he came back, isn't."

Tom slowly realized before he angrily shouted, "So you already knew! You fucking bitch! Then why the fuck you kidnap us for?"

"Hmm I guess it's for fun and for us to get to know each other better."

"For fun? You crazy bitches! You want to know me so much! Know this! I will find you and kill you! Both of you insane, sick bitches!" Tom screamed, huffing angrily.

"Okay we're on." The Sergeant interrupted, showing her laptop to her General. Tom took a peek at the screen and saw two windows opened side by side. One was a live video of Tom and Matt tied up while the other was a person wearing blue hunching down at the screen.

"Video is live and mic on," the Sergeant pressed a key, then held a mic towards the General. The long haired General walked and stood between Tom and Matt, looking and smiling happily at the camera.

"Hello there Tord, or should I say Red Leader of the Red Army. I am General Zhihao Lee. As you can see I have your friends, Tom and Matt. Quite a joy having them here." She wrapped her arm around Tom before poking his cut cheek. "They are a bit cut and beaten up, but they are still alive, for now." She unwrapped herself from Tom and continued standing with her hands behind her back, smiling.

_"What do you want, General?"_

The moment Tom heard Tord's norwegian voice through the video, he fired up, "Tord! You fucking bastard! You dragged us into this! You mother---"

Tom immediately stopped talking when a blade from a large knife was placed in front of his eyes.

"Oh shut up… you're so fucking noisy…," the General angrily said, maintaining the blade's position. "Where was I… oh yes. I want you, Red Leader to save your friends. As easy as that."

_"I am not an idiot. Clearly I'll be walking into a trap or an ambush."_

"No no, there's no trap, no army waiting to kill you, just them waiting to be rescued," the General slowly grinned, "And the remains of your missing Bravo Squad."

Tord was quiet at his end, but the silence told us everything. The last statement from the General struck a nerve in Tord.

_"Okay, you have my full attention. Mind telling me why you kidnapped Tom and Matt, and disposed of my recon team? Are you planning something against me?"_

The General laughed, "I have my reasons… but I can tell you one thing. We want you to know, to notice that General Lee and Sergeant Steinmetz are here to meddle with your plans and become the rivals of your Red Army. But for now, why not save Tom and Matt first. We left them alive just for you. So come and get them, they really need medical help right away. Our coordinate is 3.1390° N, 101.6869° E. Goodbye Red Leader."

The General waved before the livestream ended. She pulled away her weapon from Tom's face and sheathed her large knife at her waist, giving Tom space to release a breath that he had been holding.

"And we're done," Her Sergeant said, closing the two windows of live video and opened a radar map of their location.

"Good work, Sergeant. Now we just have to wait to make sure he came. In the meantime," the General beamed at Tom, "I want to give something to Tom, something that I saved best for last."

"I don't want anything from you." Tom gulped down his fear as the smiling General slowly strided to him with her bags of knives, dropping it close at his feet.

"Are you going to remove his eyes?" The Sergeant asked, staring at the General.

Her General turned around and sadly looked at her, "But Tom doesn't have eyes…" she frustratedly replied, faking a crying sound as she wiped her nonexistent tears before sounding serious. "However, I can always improvise."

She shrugged at her Sergeant and kneeled down, rummaging her beg of knives. She found a good knife before stabbing Tom's thigh with it, leaving the knife imbedded inside.

Tom screamed in shock, "Why the fuck did you---"

The General stabbed again at his thigh with a new knife, earning another pained yelled from the man.

"Motherfuc---"

Another knife was thrusted at Tom's other thigh, and then she continued stabbing it with a new knife.

"Fuck, you fucking piece of shit! You really don't have anything better to do, don't you!"

The long haired woman stood up, gazing at the eyeless man, "Yup! This is just to pass the time while we wait for Tord to come and rescue you, just enjoying the moment."

"Oh why don't you just kill me already." Tom tiredly sighed.

"What? I don't want that." The General gave a hearty laugh before she brought her smirking face closer to Tom and strongly gripped his chin, looking straight into Tom's eyes of abyss. "I want you alive, hurt and tormented before handing you to your friend Tord as a present."

"Don't fucking touch me you bitch!" Tom struggled vainly to get his face out from her death grip. He gritted his teeth, wanting so much to bite into her hand if a chance arises.

The General quickly let go of her hand, "Oh feisty, and so energetic. I like it!" She pulled out the dagger that she first used to cut Tom's body with, and gently pressed the blade against her cheek, smiling, "I can't wait to see you look oh-so weak when the blood drains from your face."

In a swift movement, she thrusted the dagger into Tom's side, causing the man to scream in surprise as he angrily glared at the smiling General. The woman twisted the dagger inside of him, making the man let out a trembled gasp, shutting his eyes shut from the growing pain.

"Ah yes… that hits the spot." She purred into Tom's ear as she continued to plunge the dagger deeper. Tom wailed in pain, thrashing through his bonds, and painfully gritted his teeth to endure it.

"I've been wanting to stab you so much. Slowly, painfully and… lovingly," the General murmured before pushing the dagger upwards, butchering his insides like an animal.

Tom loudly shrieked, closing his eyes from the unbearable pain and heaving laboured breath through clenched teeth. He was starting to feel light-headed and drowsy as cold sweats dripped down his body. His throat was dry, and any words or thoughts that formed in his head seem to jumble up and loss along with his disappearing consciousness.

The General swiftly pulled the dagger out of Tom's side, earning a shock gasp from the man. She admired the crimson liquid on her dagger that glimmered under the light before she set her eyes on Tom's sweaty, tired face.

"Oh Tom, you looked so pale." The General touched Tom's face with her bloodied hands, smudging his cheeks with his own blood. "There, all better."

"Bitch." Tom quietly said to her face.

The woman smiles, "Still talkative as ever."

"General Lee, three inbounds ETA 30 minutes." The Sergeant stated to her General, who came to her side, watching three green dots on the radar map headed to their location.

"Ah your knight in shining armour is coming to save you Tom." The General gestured the Sergeant to pack things up while she walked closer to Tom with the bloodied dagger.

"You can keep this, to remember me by." She smiled, sliding the dagger into Tom's pocket before she picked up her bag of knives and stood by the door. "Goodbye everyone, hopefully you have a speedy recovery and we'll see you again in the future."

The metal door closed as both women left the room, leaving behind a hanging Matt and a bleeding Tom alone.

"T-Tom." Matt painfully spoke through his broken jaw. "Don't sleep."

"Yeah… I know… just need to uh… wait for that commie to save our arses." Tom said between breaths, hoping so much that he was asleep than in tremendous pain.

They said thirty minutes, but Tom felt like he had waited for hours. He kept drifting in and out of consciousness, and he even thought he was at home drinking smirnoff on his couch watching tv, and all of this pain was a dream. Then Matt's voice brought him back to reality that he hates so much to be in, but grateful for his friend's concern.

He felt like he might have wet his pants, or maybe it was his blood that drenched it, he couldn't possibly tell when he was delirious from the loss of blood. He wasn't aware of the sound of the metal door opened when blue coloured figures entered, aiming their annoying torchlights at him. The only thing he clearly saw was that commie's distressed reaction seeing him.

"Commie… you're fucking late." Tom managed to say it before nothingness took hold of his mind.

~

~~~

~

Epilogue

~ 1 month after the rescue ~

Tord sat alone in his office, staring at the medical reports of his old friends.

Tom's injuries: cuts all over his upper body, rope burns on his wrist and forehead, stab wounds on his legs, a large stab wound on his stomach causing loss of blood and undergoes a coma for a week.

Matt's injuries: bruises all over his body, rope burns on his wrist, fractured ribs and femur no internal injuries, his right eye is no longer usable (requires a robot eye implant), broken jaw is too severe use a metal brace to strengthen the jaw, dental works for the teeth he loss, having a hard time lifting his arms due to hanging from his wrist for a long period of time.

Tord read through it countless times in his head, picturing the worst possible things their kidnappers could have inflicted. They could have been dead like his Bravo Squad.

Bravo Squad was a recon team Tord sent out to investigate an abandoned bunker that had emitted radio signals despite being empty. It was supposed to be a simple recon job, but they never returned from it. Tord declared them to be missing or dead after he himself searched the area, until a month ago. Their bodies were found in the same place where Tom and Matt were, what remained of them of course.

Tord could still recall the putrid smell of rotten flesh and the buzzing of flies swarming it.

Four of the squad members had cuts all over their bodies with a knife stabbed to the heart, their limbs amputated and their decapitated heads stacked together in one corner with knives in their eyes. Rotting in a different room, the other four bodies were intact, but their heads were smashed in like a destroyed watermelon, brain matters and blood splattered everywhere with dried blood pooling around their bodies.

Tord sighed heavily upon recollecting the gruesome memory, throwing the medical reports on his desk. He rubbed his face from stress and tiredness, questioning why the heck is this happening.

As if on cue, Tom and Matt entered his office with Paul and Patryck accompanying them. Tord motioned them towards the seats in front of him while his soldiers stood by the door. Tord organized his desk and put a singular folder in front of him.

"What do you want?" Tom asked as he crossed his bandaged arms together. Matt sat next to him, placing his trembling hands on his lap. Tord saw the struggling ginger moving his arms with great effort, thinking that it's going to take a lot of time for Matt to fully recover. He looked away from him, feeling pity and a pang of guilt for the man.

"I want to hear your story while in captivity. I want to know every detail of it." Tord seriously stated, swallowing his guilt and focused on the task at hand.

Tom sighed before telling Tord everything that happened; how only both of them were the only ones taken, the kidnappers asked about Tord's location but it turns out it was a lie, they just took them for fun before giving them to Tord as a present, Tom got cut by the General and Matt got beaten up by the Sergeant.

"Is that everything?" Tord softly inquired from both of them. They gloomily nodded at him, shifting uncomfortably in their seats. Tord reluctantly took out two pictures of two women wearing a military uniform and carefully placed it in front of them. Tom's face twisted with disgust upon seeing the General's face while Matt seems quiet and despondent looking at the Sergeant.

"This is General Zhihao Lee and her subordinate Sergeant Lea Steinmetz, soldiers of the Oriental Army in Asia. General Lee was the leader of an elite squad where their main objectives were to dismantle and destroy any rogue army division or resistance group, and any other targets their superior wants them to destroy. However, three years ago both of them disappeared off the continent, until now…"

"Okay… this is great and all you're telling us uh… whatever stuff you're telling, but they are your problem now. They're the one that have some beef against you and your so-called army." Tom sounded bored as heck, but he continued, "And… Matt and I are very grateful that you saved us from those maniacs. Now, can we go home? I can't stay in the same building as you are."

Tord had expected this, "No, you can't go home. You can't leave this place."

"What?! Why not?" Tom angrily shouted.

"I can't risk both of you being out in the open when there is a chance you might get taken again."

"Like hell they will try, I will---"

"What, you will try and kill them? They are experts in killing, you guys were lucky they had no intention of killing you. If they want, they would send your fucking head in a box to my doorstep!"

Tom harshly grabbed Tord's blue overcoat and pulled him from behind his desk. Paul and Patryck reacted to Tom's outburst, holding him back from further injuring their leader, but Tom angrily held onto Tord, determined to not let him go.

"Well whose bloody fault was it that led them to us! You! You dragged us into this mess! That fucking bitch tortured us for fun and after they had their fucking 'fun', they let you saved us! As a fucking present to you!"

Tom shouted and pushed Tord away, causing the military man to hit the wall behind him. Tord sadly stared down at the ground, afraid to look at his friends, afraid to face the consequences of his actions.

Tom breathed heavily as he glared hatefully at Tord with Paul and Patryck still holding him, keeping him away from Tord. In a huff, Tom shrugged both of them off of him before walking to the door.

"I need my fucking alcohol." Tom left the room, loudly closing the door behind him. Shortly after, Matt quietly stood up and left the room as well, leaving Tord with his soldiers.

Tord sighed, sitting back at his chair, "What a mess."

.

.

.

~ 3 months after the rescue ~

Tom and Matt grew accustomed to living in the Red Army. Tord gave them their own rooms and anything they want, well anything except leaving the base. Tom still kept asking if they can leave or not, and Tord said no every time he asked.

As for Tom and Matt's recent medical reports; Tom already recovered from his stab wounds and cuts all over his body, while Matt made a steady recovery for the movement of his arms thanks to physical therapy, and earlier today he had a successful robot eye implant into his right eye, Matt can finally see normally again.

Tord suppressed his happiness as he strode towards the infirmary room. For once he made something good for his friend to overwrite the bad things he did to them.

The. Bad. Things.

Tord's robot hand froze over the doorknob of the infirmary room. His happiness dissipated as he stared at the door. He could imagine his friends on the other side, he wanted to join in and be with them, but his heart couldn't help to silently ache every time he saw his friends changed and being in this base, all because of him.

Guilt was such a bitch, it will never leave you alone…

Tord closed his eye, breathing in and out, pushing his guilt away before he opened his eyes again and twisted the doorknob. They were talking with each other until Tord entered the room. Matt smiled at Tord while Tom gave an annoyed face, leaning into his chair, drinking his smirnoff.

"What do you want now?" Tom drunkenly said.

"Relax, I'm visiting Matt." Tord said as he stood closer to the bed, causing Tom to look away. "How are you Matt? How is your new eye?"

"It felt funny when it moved in my eye, but overall, it just felt good to be able to see things better now. Thank you Tord."

"You're welcome Matt. And you'll get used to the new eye in no time. Just tell the doctor if you feel pain or discomfort." Matt nodded to Tord's advice. Tord pursed his lips before talking again, "Well actually I came here to talk to both of you."

"Ahah, I knew it!" Tom shouted.

"It's about Edd."

"Oh… I forgot about him." Tom took another gulp of alcohol.

"I've already sent my men to his apartment for the third time, and he is still nowhere to be found. I figured he went looking for you guys after the kidnapping."

"Hah, since when Edd would come looking for any one of us. He's probably out on a beach drinking tonnes of cola to celebrate his alone time."

Matt interjected, "Umm I don't know Tom, he seems pretty different after the house got destroyed. He started to care and hang out with us when he got the time."

"Oh yeah… and whose fault was it that obliterated the house?" Tom angrily stared at Tord, who avoided looking at Tom's eyes.

"Tord?" Matt innocently answers.

"Thank you Captain Obvious," Tom drank his alcohol even more.

Tord continued talking, "Bottomline is Edd can be very unpredictable. I just wished that we found him before anyone else found him."

.

.

.

~ 6 months after the rescue ~

Finally after so many months, Matt recovered from his minor nerve damage on both of his arms. But Tom on the other hand had a problem with his nonexistent eyes. He said he couldn't see very well and his 'eyes' started to bleed randomly during the day. He even said he didn't feel pain at all, which was worrying especially to Tord's doctor, who thought it was cancer.

Tord suggested Tom the visor that he created. The visor could help stop his eyes from bleeding, give him perfect eyes sight along with night vision, infrared and other functions, he just needed to read the manual later on.

Two of his friends are here and well in his base, except for the smeg head Edd…

Tord ruffled his hair in frustration, he still didn't know what happened to Edd. Is he alright? Is he kidnapped as well? Is he really on a beach drinking tonnes of cola? Where the hell is he?

"Tord!" Edd began shouting. "Stop hiding behind these idiots! I know you’re in there, you evil-faced bastard! Come out before I drag you out of there myself!"

Or… he just found us first…

Tord quickly ran out of his office to the entrance of his base with Paul and Patryck behind him. He opened the doors and with a surprised face he looked at the familiar green hoodie.

Edd…

**The End…?**

~

~~~

~

Extra

Paul: So… what's up with these crazy chicks?

(Paul looked at the pictures of General Lee and Sergeant Steinmetz.)

Patryck: Don't you remember that overseas trip to visit the Oriental Army?

Paul: Nope.

Patryck: *sigh* 3 years ago we escorted Red Leader to watch a weapon demonstration at their place.

Paul: Still doesn't ring a bell.

(Paul and Patryck bickering in the background while Tord remembered the day she looked at his eyes with jet black eyes. She smiles after she noticed he was watching and she smiled again when her First Rate General introduced her to the leader of the Red Army.

Her elite squad that consisted of only ten soldiers demonstrated how they could take down a resistance group in a day. They showed amazing strength and defense against their enemies, and they showed no mercy to any of them. Members of the squad seem to have eyes as black as night itself. But if you looked closely, each and every one of them had madness swirled inside of their eyes with crooked smiles adorning their faces.

Tord heard they were implanted with a foreign object inside of their chest, replacing their hearts, pumping unimaginable things into their blood. A dark crystal shaped like a heart.)

Tord: The Dark Heart Project.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> Notes from the animation description on YouTube:
> 
> -Tord just wants all of his friends back together with him. (Yes)
> 
> -Tord still haunted by the events of the ‘The End’. (Very much)
> 
> -Tom and Matt got sick. (Nope)  
> In this version, they got kidnapped by Tord’s enemy. Then they got hurt very badly.
> 
> -They secretly went to Tord for help. (Nope)  
> Tord saved them and patched them up.
> 
> -They joined Tord’s army. (Yup)  
> In this version, they had no choice but to stay in Tord’s base to avoid Tord’s enemy to get their hands on them again. So in conclusion, they had to join Tord’s army.
> 
> -Edd got super sad and lonely. (Maybe a little bit)  
> Edd investigates Tom and Matt disappearance. Edd assumed Tord took them for revenge, and after months of searching, Edd finally found Tord’s base.


End file.
